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                                    1898-1992                                   
                                                                                
                                  (ICPSR 6311)                                  
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                             Principal Investigator                             
                                                                                
                                    Gary King                                   
                               Harvard University                               
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                               First ICPSR Version                              
                                  November 1994                                 
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                         Inter-university Consortium for                        
                          Political and Social Research                         
                                  P.O. Box 1248                                 
                            Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106                           
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                             BIBLIOGRAPHIC CITATION                             
                                                                                
                                                                                
            Publications  based  on  ICPSR  data  collections  should           
            acknowledge  those  sources  by  means  of  bibliographic           
            citations.  To ensure that such source  attributions  are           
            captured  for  social  science  bibliographic  utilities,           
            citations must appear in footnotes or  in  the  reference           
            section  of publications.  The bibliographic citation for           
            this data collection is:                                            
                                                                                
                                                                                
                 King, Gary.  ELECTIONS  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES                
                 HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 1898-1992 [Computer                
                 file]. ICPSR version. Cambridge, MA: Gary  King                
                 [producer],   1994.   Ann   Arbor,  MI:  Inter-                
                 university Consortium for Political and  Social                
                 Research [distributor], 1994.                                  
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON USE OF ICPSR RESOURCES               
                                                                                
            To provide funding agencies  with  essential  information           
            about  use  of  archival  resources and to facilitate the           
            exchange  of  information   about   ICPSR   participants'           
            research activities, users of ICPSR data are requested to           
            send to ICPSR bibliographic citations for each  completed           
            manuscript or thesis abstract. Please indicate in a cover           
            letter which data were used.                                        
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                 DATA DISCLAIMER                                
                                                                                
            The original  collector  of  the  data,  ICPSR,  and  the           
            relevant  funding  agency bear no responsibility for uses           
            of this collection or for interpretations  or  inferences           
            based upon such uses.                                               
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                         DATA COLLECTION DESCRIPTION                            
                                                                                
                                                                                
     Gary King                                                                  
          ELECTIONS TO  THE  UNITED  STATES  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,        
     1898-1992 (ICPSR 6311)                                                     
                                                                                
     SUMMARY: This data collection, designed to facilitate  analysis  of        
     voting  behavior  at  the  district  level  and the effect of party        
     incumbency on election  outcomes,  contains  election  returns  for        
     elections  to  the United States House of Representatives from 1898        
     to  1992.  Votes  from  each  biennial  election  are  tallied   by        
     Democratic  and  Republican  candidate  and  are further grouped by        
     state and congressional district. The party  of  the  incumbent  is        
     also  indicated.  These  data  are  arranged by election year in 48        
     separate files. An  additional  file,  Part  49,  Exceptions  Data,        
     contains  data  for  unusual  elections,  such  as when the winning        
     candidate was from a  minor  party  or  there  was  no  Democratic-        
     Republican  pairing.  These  data are grouped by state and district        
     and include the year of the election,  the  party  of  the  winning        
     candidate,  and  the  number  of  votes  received  by  the  winning        
     candidate where available.                                                 
                                                                                
     UNIVERSE: All state voting districts for each  election  year  from        
     1898 to 1992.                                                              
                                                                                
     EXTENT  OF   COLLECTION:   49   data   files   +   machine-readable        
     documentation  (text)  + SAS data definition statements + SPSS data        
     definition statements                                                      
                                                                                
     EXTENT OF PROCESSING: DDEF.ICPSR                                           
                                                                                
     DATA  FORMAT:  Logical  Record  Length  with  SAS  and  SPSS   data        
     definition statements                                                      
                                                                                
     Parts 1-48: 1898-1992 Data (even years)                                    
     File Structure: rectangular                                                
     Cases: 357 to 479 per part                                                 
     Variables: 5                                                               
     Record Length: 25                                                          
     Records Per Case: 1                                                        
                                                                                
     Part 49: Exceptions Data                Part 51: SAS Data Definition       
     File Structure: rectangular               Statements for Parts 1-48        
     Cases: 839                              Record Length: 41                  
     Variables: 7                                                               
     Record Length: 64                       Part 52: SAS Data Definition       
     Records Per Case: 1                       Statements for Part 49           
                                             Record Length: 71                  
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
     Part 53: Codebook for All Parts                                            
     Record Length: 80                                                          
                                                                                
     RELATED PUBLICATIONS:                                                      
          Gelman, Andrew, and Gary King. "A Unified Method of Evaluating        
     Electoral  Systems  and  Redistricting  Plans." AMERICAN JOURNAL OF        
     POLITICAL SCIENCE 38, 2 (May 1994), forthcoming.                           
          King, Gary. "Constituency Service and  Incumbency  Advantage."        
     BRITISH JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 21, 1 (January 1991), 119-128.        
          King, Gary,  and  Andrew  Gelman.  "Systemic  Consequences  of        
     Incumbency  Advantage  in  the  U.S.  House."  AMERICAN  JOURNAL OF        
     POLITICAL SCIENCE 35, 1 (February 1991), 110-138.                          
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
Documentation for U.S. House of Representatives Electoral Data                  
                                                                                
Send comments and questions:  Gary King, Department of Government,              
Harvard University, Littauer Center North Yard, Cambridge, Massachusetts        
02138; Email: gk@isr.Harvard.Edu.  Thanks goes to Michael Ting for managing     
the latest and most extensive round of data verification, and to the            
National Science Foundation for grant SBR-9223637.                              
                                                                                
-------                                                                         
SUMMARY                                                                         
-------                                                                         
These data contain information on elections to the U.S. House of                
Representatives from 1898 to 1992.  The data are in a much more convenient      
format than the ICPSR data, especially for tracking districts across            
redistricting in individual districts, and hundreds of errors were corrected.   
                                                                                
---------                                                                       
CITATIONS                                                                       
---------                                                                       
Earlier versions of these data were used and gradually improved in the          
context of research reported in the following publications, among others.       
                                                                                
Gelman, Andrew and Gary King. "A Unified Method of Evaluating Electoral         
Systems and Redistricting Plans," American Journal of Political Science,        
forthcoming, Vol. 38, No. 2 (May, 1994).                                        
                                                                                
Gelman, Andrew and Gary King. "Estimating Incumbency Advantage Without          
Bias," American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 34, No. 4 (November,         
1990): Pp. 1142--1164.                                                          
                                                                                
Gelman, Andrew and Gary King. "Estimating the Electoral Consequences of         
Legislative Redistricting," Journal of the American Statistical                 
Association, Vol. 85, No. 410 (June, 1990): Pp. 274--282, (with Andrew          
Gelman).                                                                        
                                                                                
King, Gary. "Constituency Service and Incumbency Advantage," British            
Journal of Political Science, Vol. 21, No. 1 (January, 1991): Pp. 119--128.     
                                                                                
King, Gary. "Stochastic Variation: A Comment on Lewis-Beck and Skalaban's       
`The R-Square'," Political Analysis, Vol. 2 (1991): Pp. 185--200.               
                                                                                
King, Gary. "Electoral Responsiveness and Partisan Bias in Multiparty           
Democracies," Legislative Studies Quarterly, Vol. XV, No. 2 (May, 1990):        
Pp. 159--181.                                                                   
                                                                                
King, Gary and Andrew Gelman. "Systemic Consequences of Incumbency              
Advantage in the U.S. House," American Journal of Political Science, Vol.       
35, No. 1 (February, 1991): Pp. 110--138.                                       
                                                                                
                                                                                
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OVERVIEW                                                                        
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These files contain data for every US House of Representatives election         
from 1898 to 1992, inclusive.  The results from each election appear in a       
separate file named with the election year and extension ".ASC" (e.g.,          
"1934.ASC" is the 1934 House election).                                         
                                                                                
For unusual elections (such as minor party winners, or two Democrats and no     
Republican candidates, etc.), we have constructed an exceptions file,           
EXCEPTH.ASC.  Each election appears in either ****.ASC or EXCEPTH.ASC, but      
not both.  See details below.  Special elections were only included to inform   
the variable on incumbency status.                                              
                                                                                
                                                                                
----------------------------                                                    
"****.ASC" FILE ORGANIZATION                                                    
----------------------------                                                    
Each file is formatted identically with blanks between columns and with the     
following fields: (1) State #, (2) District #, (3) Incumbency Code, (4) #       
Democratic votes, and (5) # Republican votes.  In all cases, a value of -9      
was entered when there was either no data available or appropriate for that     
field.  Vote totals can always be compared between elections with the same      
state and district number between major redistricting periods.  For             
example, the election files corresponding to 1942-1950 will all have the        
same number of rows.  Redistrictings that do not occur immediately prior to     
years ending in "2" are dealt with by using new district numbers.  The          
fields are as follows:                                                          
                                                                                
(1) State number:  States are numbered using the standard ICPSR code:           
                                                                                
     New England            Middle Atlantic                                     
        01  Connecticut        11  Delaware                                     
        02  Maine              12  New Jersey                                   
        03  Massachusetts      13  New York                                     
        04  New Hampshire      14  Pennsylvania                                 
        05  Rhode Island                                                        
        06  Vermont                                                             
                                                                                
     East North Central     West North Central                                  
        21  Illinois           31  Iowa                                         
        22  Indiana            32  Kansas                                       
        23  Michigan           33  Minnesota                                    
        24  Ohio               34  Missouri                                     
        25  Wisconsin          35  Nebraska                                     
                               36  N. Dakota                                    
                               37  S. Dakota                                    
                                                                                
     Solid South                                                                
        40  Virginia           45  Louisiana                                    
        41  Alabama            46  Mississippi                                  
        42  Arkansas           47  N. Carolina                                  
        43  Florida            48  S. Carolina                                  
        44  Georgia            49  Texas                                        
                                                                                
     Border States          Mountain States                                     
        51  Kentucky           61  Arizona                                      
        52  Maryland           62  Colorado                                     
        53  Oklahoma           63  Idaho                                        
        54  Tennessee          64  Montana                                      
        55  Washington,D.C.    65  Nevada                                       
        56  W. Virginia        66  New Mexico                                   
                               67  Utah                                         
                               68  Wyoming                                      
                                                                                
     Pacific States          External States                                    
        71  California          81  Alaska                                      
        72  Oregon              82  Hawaii                                      
        73  Washington                                                          
                                                                                
(2) District #:  Districts are numbered as they are by law in each state, with  
     the exception that At-Large districts are numbered starting from 98 in     
     descending order.  Thus, a 10-district state which includes 2 at-large     
     districts will have district numbers 1-8, 97, 98.  Each state will         
     have the same number of districts in every file from any given             
     redistricting period.  If the above state were to lose its at-large        
     districts and change to 10 standard geographic districts before its        
     next census-based redistricting, then each file from that                  
     redistricting period will have district numbers 1-10, 97, 98, with -9s     
     filled in for nonexistent elections.                                       
                                                                                
(3) Incumbency Code:  0=Open seat, 1=Democratic incumbent, -1=Republican        
     incumbent, 3=two incumbents running (one Democratic, one Republican);      
     other possibilities were coded as missing and listed in the exceptions     
     file.                                                                      
                                                                                
(4) # Democratic votes:  The vote total for the Democratic candidate.  If the   
     Democratic candidate was also endorsed by a third party, then we have      
     added the two vote totals.                                                 
                                                                                
(5) # Republican votes:  The vote total for the Republican candidate.  If the   
     Republican candidate was also endorsed by a third party, then we have      
     added the two vote totals.                                                 
                                                                                
     Who Won?  Winners can generally be determined from the files by seeing     
     which candidate has more votes.  However, this only works for standard     
     elections, where a Democrat runs against a Republican and one of them      
     wins.  Occasionally, however, a 3d-party candidate will win, or the        
     vote totals for the winner will not be available.  In order to             
     preserve what was known about those elections, the following algorithm     
     should be used to figure out winners:                                      
                                                                                
     1. IF both parties have vote totals >= 0, THEN the party with more         
          votes is the winner.                                                  
     2. IF both parties have vote totals = -9, THEN either no election took     
          place, OR there is a 3d-Party winner, OR there was an at-large        
          election.  In the latter two cases, the election results were         
          recorded in the exceptions file (excepth.asc).                        
     3. IF one party has a vote total = 0 AND the other party has a vote        
          total recorded as -9 then that election should be in the              
          exceptions file (most of these are uncontested elections where        
          the number of votes for the winner was not reported).                 
     4. IF one party has a vote total > 0 AND the other party has a vote        
          total = -9, THEN the first party is the winner.                       
                                                                                
                                                                                
------------------------------------------                                      
EXCEPTIONS:  EXCEPTH.ASC FILE ORGANIZATION                                      
------------------------------------------                                      
This file contains information on elections which are not describable as a      
single Democrat running against a single Republican.  This file is in ASCII     
format with spaces between the columns.  The fields follow:                     
                                                                                
year     = the year in four digits                                              
state    = the ICPSR state number (as described above)                          
district = district number (as described above),                                
Dem      = 1 if the winning candidate is Democratic, and 0 otherwise            
Rep      = 1 if the winning candidate is Republican, and 0 otherwise            
Minor    = 1 if the winning candidate is neither a Democrat nor a Republican    
Votes    = the number of votes received by the winning candidate, where         
           available                                                            
                                                                                
SOURCES:                                                                        
                                                                                
Election figures up to 1984 were taken from Congressional Quarterly's Guide to  
US Elections (Second Edition, 1985).  According to p.1062 of this volume, the   
vast majority of its data come from the ICPSR.  Non-ICPSR sources are listed on 
that page.  However, many hundreds of errors still existing in the ICPSR files  
were apparently corrected in CQ, and others by us.  For some information on     
these errors, see Andrew Gelman and Gary King. "Estimating Incumbency Advantage 
Without Bias," American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 34, No. 4 (November, 
1990): Pp. 1142--1164.                                                          
                                                                                
Post-1984 data were taken from the official returns (as opposed to the          
unofficial figures on election night) as listed by Congressional                
Quarterly's Weekly Report.  These data typically come out around the March      
or April after the election.  All files were checked extensively against        
published lists of elected congressmen to make sure that the proper winners     
could be produced with the data entered and the rules listed above.             
